Mmm

spanish class was cancelled today. which is why i'm here at this moment. i am inordinately happy about that. wednesday is going to be a day of sorrow and suffering and possibly death. a spanish test AND a music history test, which will be all listening, score identification and essay. HELP. ME.

Happy Days

sometimes when i go for a while without exercising i forget how good it feels. i sleep so much better when my body is tired instead of just my brain. usually when brain is tired it's because i've been over-using it and it keeps racing while i try to put my body (which has been doing nothing but sit in a chair, most likely) to sleep. let's just say i have been sleeping well, and i'm SURE going to sleep well tonight.

this weekend has been great. had a movie night in nick and i''s apartment on thursday. we had hot chocolate and coffee and milk and juice and didn't eat anything. it was oodles of fun. then last night was the keyboard scholarship fundraiser concert. i had to work back stage in order to assist with moving pianos around during the concert. but really, i almost have more fun back there than in the audience - dancing around, taking pictures, cracking jokes with the performers, etc. i got to run out in the audience and sit with my lady for a couple of pieces. once in particular i had to make sure that a flying stick thrown by mr ajero didn't go into the audience and strike one of our dear elderly patrons on the noggin. on the program were a few students - craig playing mozart, schoppe playing lizst, chris playing chopin, tracy playing a jazz number she arranged herself with drums and bass to go along with it. dr petti played a very interesting piece inside the piano - plucking and strumming the strings, striking them with a drum stick, playing harmonics, and all kinds of crazy things. mr ajero and dr moon played some beethoven. dr parr appeared on stage as a rock star. he had his hair spiked, wore a black t-shirt with some colorful logo on the front under and unbuttoned black collar shirt, and sunglasses. the piano had no lid, was turned the wrong direction and cocked at an angle to the audience, and he banged on the piano with his foot (the whole show was called "something's afoot"). and the crowd went wild. mr ajero, dr moon, dr petti and mrs cooper played a great arrangement of the sabre dance. a few of us students decided that we need to learn it as a summer project. i hope i didn't leave anyone out. i think that's all the performers though.

after the concert we stayed for some cleanup, and then had another movie/pizza night at karen's place.

went dancing with heather this morning.

helped evan with some sign stuff for his eagle project (which i should post some pictures of eventually).

i could write three more blog posts worth on all that, but i'm really tired. goodnight my friends.

virtu \vuhr-TOO; vir-\, noun:1. love of or taste for fine objects of art.2. Productions of art (especially fine antiques).3. Artistic quality.

"The Italian humanist Giovanni Pontano described these objects as "statues, pictures, tapestries, divans, chairs of ivory, cloth interwoven with gems, many-coloured boxes and coffers in the Arabian style, crystal vases and other things of this kind . . . [whose] sight . . . is pleasing and brings prestige to the owner of the house." They all spoke to the wealth, taste and virtu of their owner."-- John Brewer, The Pleasures of the Imagination

Uh Oh...

picture time!!! after this...

today was both good and bad. more good than bad though. i finished all my homework for the rest of the week. course, i'll get more during the next couple of days to be done this weekend, but i don't have to think about that yet. i played in a trombone recital and got that out of the way. and i watched a movie with some friends. and i LOST MY STUDENT ID!!! gahh, stupid...plastic...piece of...name tag... thing... i think i threw it in the trash with my napkins and condiments after dinner. sad day. tomorrow i'll probably have to pay $5 for a new one. speaking of student id's - my dorm now actually requires you to swipe your card in the elevator to get to your floor!!! i got in this afternoon and pushed "4", and waited a moment. the light just blinked and the door stayed open. then i blinked, and the door was still open. so i pushed it again. and again. and then i noticed the card swipe center had the word "ready" lit up. and below it was a dark light that said, "access". so i swiped my card, the access light lit up, i pushed floor 4, and i was home free. just another nuisance in our high security dwelling. especially a nuisance now that i no longer have this handy dandy card. and yes, i have scary pictures. actually, if you get the impression that i'm about to start grinning like an idiot instead of scowling you're probably right. i don't pull off the mean look very well, even if i do have long hair and a trench coat.

Rainierestness...ing...ish...wet

today is rainy and yuck. it would actually be less yuck if i had time to play in it, and enjoy being wet. it's more yuck when you have to go to class and walk in and out of the yuck and then be clean and neat and composed in between. some people choose these types of days to have flat tires. some people who do not know how to inflate a tire. but so what? i'm more than happy to share my quarters and tire-inflation expertise with my lady. i can understand why some people would be intimidated by this activity though. it's a very complicated matter, really, involving squeezing a trigger.

i have no work for this afternoon (which is why i'm here typing at 3:15 on a wed afternoon). so i am determined to finish all my homework for the rest of the week TONIGHT! then i can have carefree times of funness over the weekend. starting tomorrow.

my camera should be back in my possession tonight, so pictures will be here soon. hang in there folks!

gaucherie \goh-shuh-REE\, noun:1. A socially awkward or tactless act.2. Lack of tact; boorishness; awkwardness.

"If you find yourself sitting next to an obviously prosperous guest at a dinner party and your host introduces him (it will be a him) as a "successful barrister", you will be guilty of a gaucherie of the crassest kind if you exclaim: "How fascinating! If I promise not to call you Rumpole, will you tell me about your goriest murder trials?""-- Nick Cohen, "Don't leave justice to the judges", New Statesman, December 13, 1999

Hace Buen Tiempo

today i went jogging for the first time in woooooooooooooo. say that with a high-pitched descending slide and you'll pretty much have the jist of a sound that means "a very long time."

i like the cooler weather. in june there is no way i would go jogging at 4 in the afternoon. also it gives me and excuse to do things like wear my trench coat. which i did a couple nights ago when i walked to the music building. i wore my fancy hat too. nick said i looked scary. maybe i should post pictures.

sadly, i am now a member of myspace. i barely have a profile set up. i'm thinking i may eventually get around to putting a picture up, but not much else. there's just too much with blogs and facebook and everything else.

life is moving along fine though. i haven't fallen off the deep end of insanity yet (though i've been told i'm on the brink). trying to hold onto god's promises that when we are weak then we are strongest in him. there are also a few very encouraging friends around. one in particular (one besides heather, since of course she's the best) who i just recently realized is someone i would really like to cultivate a friendship with. i don't know exactly how to word it. i guess "we connected..." which sounds TOTALLY stupid! but you know what i mean, yes? that's it. i'm through. see y'all later

solicitous \suh-LIS-uh-tuhs\, adjective:1. Manifesting or expressing care or concern.2. Full of anxiety or concern; apprehensive.3. Extremely careful; meticulous.4. Full of desire; eager.

"He . . . was excessively solicitous, constantly apologizing for the car's poor suspension, the heat, the state of the roads, and the insane behavior of other drivers."-- John Case, The Genesis Code

Dilbert

i felt that it was necessary to share this very fitting dilbert strip with you. it's funnier if you have been keeping up, but i think any busy person can appreciate it anyway.

http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComic.mpl?date=2006/10/19&name=Dilbert

Happy Birthday Stephen!!!

today the littlest tyke of the family turns 5! woot woooooot!!! i'll just give you a little picture of him, and encourage you to join me in celebrating with him. i hope he has a tasty cake this weekend. on sunday. after church...

btw, that's a white piece of something he's holding up in the picture... it's not a crudely chopped corner.

the music history midterm of terror is over and i'm STILL ALIVE TO TELL YOU ABOUT IT!!! course, i have no desire whatsoever to actually tell you about it, just to let you know that i made it through.

in other news, my tuba player just contacted me to rehearse last week and i found out that our performance is on wed. ON THIS WEDNESDAY!!! get it?? two days from now...? i actually could have known this, had i read the piece of paper that came with the music, but i usually don't pay a whole lot of attention to that until the instrumentalist calls me. so, he got in touch and we scheduled a practice time. everything's great. we met for rehearsal, he was on time, i had all the music prepared... or did i... when we got to the second page we encountered major problems. actually they could have been either major or minor, but the key doesn't really matter. what matters is that i only had the outside covers for his music, and the inner pages were still in his bag. oh joy! i could barely restrain myself from doing a happy dance right there in the practice room. so today i practiced the middle two pages for about an hour and then rehearsed. now i have to get it all solid tomorrow morning, practice with "mr tuba" (i won't use his name, cuz i don't hate him. accidents happen. hmmmm.... accidents happen... hmmmm...) and then be ready to hit the stage wed night. okay, i've said that enough now. it's not going to give me any more time by saying it over and over again.

now i shall take my sleep deprived self off to the shower, and hopefully hit the sack before 9. then hopefully a productive quiet time in the mornin'. ahhhh, how refreshing. i hate the way school and craziness encourages me to sacrifice the most important things. last night i opened the bible and could hardly even think straight when i tried to read. i was like, "forget it! i'm going to fail music history!" and went and started beating my head against a brick. if i have a black eye, that's why.

because i haven't in a long time - word of the day...

salutary \SAL-yuh-ter-ee\, adjective:1. Producing or contributing to a beneficial effect; beneficial; advantageous.2. Wholesome; healthful; promoting health.

Surviving a near-death experience has the salutary effect of concentrating the mind.-- Kenneth T. Walsh and Roger Simon, "Bush turns the tide", U.S. News, February 28, 2000

I Won't...

right at this very moment i'm having a severe case of the "don't wannas". you know, where you really have to do something, but you don't even want to think about having to do it, so you drink some milk and curl up in the fetal position while imagining scenes of fields and daisies and carefree childhood and then you come to when reality kicks you in the stomach again and you cry and then finally start doing whatever it was you were in denial about to start with...?

Who Needs Sleep?

sometimes i wonder if i really have time for this blog. and then, after thinking about it, i have to conclude that - no, i don't have time. but i will continue to write in it on those special occassions when i choose to ignore my other responsibilities, or as a reward for finishing them (such as right now, past 1:30 after i finished studying spanish for who knows how long).

i just love it when people around here fix problems that don't exist. or at least that i didn't know existed. i'm always coming in (to our apartment) and finding a slip of paper that says things like, "problem fixed - air conditioner vent replaced," or "problem fixed - drain plug and filter," (as in, all your problems are solved because you now have some extra pieces of hardware sitting on the counter that you only wish you needed as bad as we wanted to give them to you...). and is it not weird to know that some smelly unshaven stranger with a tool belt can come into your home at random times when you're gone? i'm actually not paranoid, but i wonder if maybe i should be.

there was a good piano recital tonight. lots of spanish music. however, it couldn't compare with what i know is coming to town on saturday. we have a guest pianist performing rachmaninoff's 2nd piano concerto with the orchestra of the pines. if you come it will rock your socks off.

it's getting cold. in the 50's this evening. i LOVE it! it makes me want to run, which i haven't been doing. after the recital we got some chic-fil-a and ate outside. we shivered for most of the time. i also enjoyed myself tremendously because of you-know-who being there. she makes me a happy camper. i don't want you to think i'm becoming obsessive and making this blog a heather fan site (were those first 3 paragraphs sufficient to preclude such notions?). however, since i am a big fan, be prepared for her to become an important character in upcoming episodes in the life of quirky.

that's all i got. i'm beat. and i'm full of coffee, which is sure to help me sleep soundly... see y'all later!

Tadaa!!!

here at last is photographic proof (for those of you who were doubtful, as well as those who have just been patiently waiting) that my beautiful lady heather does in fact exist. and yes, my hair is much longer than hers (like, maybe twice as long), which you may find mildly amusing. if i am at any time unaccountably cheerful (the past two days being the exception) it is probably because of that delightful individual standing beside me. i'll have more to gush about her at a later time. everyone have a good week, and i'll talk with you again soon!

i'm doing much better this afternoon. i did start of the morning by almost throwing up when i tried to swallow my horse pill (sulfameth trimethaprim... sounds horsish, doesn't it). stupid thing. so big and foul in the throat.

turned in my paper for music history (it was crap, i admit).

floated through spanish, trying to pretend that i wasn't really there. it didn't work. in fact, my presence was felt so strongly that they signed me in for my lab 15 minutes before i got there. thanks for the free minutes dude...

now if i can just get my face out of this bag of doritos and my behind over to the library to study with ben i'll be doing great!

i didn't sleep well or enough last night. just got up from a 1 hours nap. it was way nice.

practice tonight after studying with ben. will i survive? yes, i'll survive. coffee will be my friend.

Yuck

i feel like throwing up and rolling into a ball and crying myself to sleep.











really i don't post often enough to make comments like that, do i...? i'm not turning suicidal. i am super stressed. i'm also filling myself with coffee and staying up late. i don't want to try anymore. "it is enough; now, o lord, take my life, for i am not better than my fathers." ha! i'm not in such dire straits as Elijah thought he was in. tomorrow jezebel... i mean music history and class piano will be behind me. i can hardly wait.

Relief

life is crazy and exciting these days. the latest development in my schedule of death is a rather significant reprieve. for the first time in my life, i have dropped a course. astronomy is no longer on my list of courses and i am so happy to see it gone. my activities went from impossible to just plain hectic. ever since the beginning of the semester i could tell it was going to be a struggle, but the last straw came last night. i was trying to do my astronomy lab and they told me i would have to build a homemade spectroscope. furthermore, i would have to experiment with several different types of gases and use my spectroscope to create their respective spectrographs (how do you like that sentence...). i realized that not only would i be up working on this project until class this morning, but the every week of this stuff would be one more drag on my life sustenance for the rest of the semester. the long and the short of it is, the camels back broke last night and this morning i withdrew completely from astronomy. now if i can just maintain some solid A's in the rest of my classes...

this morning i was shocked to discover my car parked in front of the music building when i came out for lunch. i walked to class this morning. if you'd asked me where my car was i would have sworn up and down that it was on the 4th floor of the parking garage. thankfully i had no tickets, even though i was in faculty parking.

i also almost got hit on south street. it probably would have been my fault. i proved something i already knew - don't trust stupid people who turn on their blinker and slow down even when they don't intend to turn.

i am a happy camper. god is truly amazing. i'm convinced that life is pointless without him.

the end